The Rubin and The Favorite

Thank you for the Birthday Greetings.

Had a lovely time at the Rubin (although I did wonder at one point if my friend, Wales, could just come with a mute button...and I have a sinking feeling others have felt much the same thing about me in the past. So yes, I appreciate the irony.

Wales: I should stop talking. I feel like I'm doing all the talking. You should talk.
I burst out laughing.
Wales: So you agree?
Me: Eh, actually I've said the same thing on more the one occasion and felt the same way. ( I'm laughing because the universe has managed to find a way to put me on the opposite side of this conversation once again. Have to appreciate the irony.))

The museum was fascinating and it is fun to go with a friend who is appreciative of it. Six floors up a spiral stair case can be hard on old knees and hips. The Power of Prayer was by far the best -- with installations regarding Prayer wheels and interactive exhibits. One had a cityscape that kept changing, another was an energy mirror that you pushed. There was also a cage with flashing lights you went into and breathed to turn on the lights.

Other floors continued 4th-19th Century Tibetan, Mongolian, Chinese, and Indian art.
From areas such as Nepal, the Himalayas, India, China, and Mongolia. ( Read more... )

I'm right now on a bit of a sugar high and getting the hot flash. Didn't have them during the day. I get them more at night, usually after I've had wine and sweet stuff. Hmmm -- wonder if there is a connection?

2. Rented The Favorite off of "Optimum" On Demand...and, it's an interesting movie, not at all what I expected. Olivia Coleman definitely deserved the accolades she got for that role -- which includes getting across a stroke, and severe gout. She plays an aging and somewhat crippled Queen Ann, who subtly wields far more power than either of the ladies vying for attention understand. In short they both underestimate the Queen, and both believe they are the puppeteers, when in truth she is the one with the strings.

My parents friends did not like the movie. Some hated it. They said it was crude.
Eh, I didn't find it crude. My mother and I have decided her friends couldn't deal with the explicit lesbian relationships at the center of the film -- which are rather explicit. Neither of us have any issues with it. Mother hasn't seen it yet.

It's a long-ass movie. I got a bit bored, to be honest and kept thinking...okay when will this move be over? Another Oscar-nominated film with pacing issues. Seriously this is the one thing that all of the Oscar nominated films had in common -- they drug in places and required a good editor. Every film that I've seen which was nominated, I wanted to cut thirty minutes out of it.

I thought the performances were very good and all deserved the attention they got. And yes, Olivia Coleman's jumped out at me the most -- mainly because most of her acting was of the physical variety, and that's harder to pull off. It's much harder to act without lines than with lines. (As many actors have told me and I've learned myself.) Coleman gets a lot across with just a look.

The story is about Lady Marlborough, Queen Anne and Abigail, Marlborough's cousin. Abigail comes seeking a position in Marlborough's household. She's been sold into female drudgery by her father -- who lost her in a card game. Women back then had no power and were property. Abigail journeys to her cousins and in desperation throws herself on her cousin's mercy. The cousin is the "favorite" of Queen Anne (and apparently, Anne's secret lover) -- she uses her relationship with Anne to wield power behind the scenes, control paraliment, who is prime minister, and keep the War Effort moving forward -- which benefits her and her faction and her vision for England. Marlborough brings her cousin in to tend to Anne's horrible gout. The cousin smartly decides to get some herbs to help with gout -- which is a tremendous help to the Queen and the Queen takes notice. Marlborough is encourgaged to take Abigail on as a personal hand-maid -- and Abigail rises in the household. She also becomes favored by a Colonel -- who lusts after her. She's smarter than he is and manipulates him into marrying her, gets rid of Marlborough so the marriage can go through without a hitch...and well, when Marlborough returns -- the Queen realizes Marlborough doesn't truly love her and is just manipulating her, gets fed up, and kicks her out -- Marlborough can't get back in because Abigail ensures she can't, so now Abigail believes she has the upper hand...

Uh. No. And the Queen makes it clear at the end, that Abigail from the Queen's perspective is no more than just another of her pet rabbits.

All through the film we see rabbits, in cages, the Queens babies. Which neither lady or favorite likes all that much but pretends to. They both use the rabbits to get the Queen's favor, but it becomes clear towards the end..that they are both just rabbits in the Queen's eyes.

It's a fascinating film about power dynamics and how power cripples and isolates the wielder. None of the people are happy. They are all bored and frustrated and in the end, have less power than they think or are powerless. The Queen is powerless over her own body, Abigail over her situation, her husband over his wife and his, Lady Marlborough over her's and so on...their pursuit for power or lust for physical satisfication leads nowhere. And the only children we see are lots and lots of rabbits. The Queen lost all of hers, all she has left are the rabbits.

Rather chilling in a way. If it is power you seek -- watch out, in the end, you'll just be another rabbit in a cage.

I'd call this film a bit of a historical satire. Very dark. And at the end, I didn't like anyone much.

That said, I did like the film. And would rank it up there with Roma and Vice.

So rankings:

1. Roma
2. Black Panther
3. The Favorite
4. Vice
5. Black KKKlansman
6. Star is Born
7. Bohemian Rhapsody

As an aside, Wales loved Star is Born...she never saw the Judy Garland version, just the Barbara Striesand, so I give her a pass.